Ever since I started playing Elder Scrolls Online, I had an itch to play more RPG games. Especially ones with big maps and hours of content to fall in love with. This led me to play Kingdoms Of Amalur.
Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning was first released back in 2012. Kingdoms Of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is a remastered version of that game. It’s basically the same game, quests, and loot with better graphics.
Since I haven’t played the original game, I entered the remastered version with a fresh perspective. Even though I have no experience to compare the improvements made in the remaster, I will share with you my experience playing this highly acclaimed RPG for the first time.
At the start, Kingdoms Of Amalur felt like just any other RPG. You get to create a character choosing a class. But, unlike most other RPGs, it doesn’t restrict you to a specific class. You get to freely invest your skill points to create a build with a combination of multiple classes as you progress through the game.
Then, after a few cutscenes, you go through a series of tutorial missions that introduce you to the basics and your class abilities, which by the way are super fun. There’s a finishing move you get to execute that looks insanely awesome.
Once you’re through the tutorial, you can either progress through the main story, pick a different main quest, or explore doing side-quests. As a fan of avoiding the main campaign, I took the third option and started doing small side-quests. They are fun and a great way to level up and find loot. And there are loads of quests you can take-on as well. You meet lots of NPC quest-givers everywhere you go.
The amount of loot in Kingdoms Of Amalur is just ridiculous. There is loot everywhere. Most of the stuff in the environment can be destroyed. And when you do you find more loot. There are loot chests, you can loot enemies, there are possessed loot chests that you unlock by expelling demons, and much more.
Basically, there’s a ton of loot in the game. And that’s one of the reasons that made me a fan of this game. However, one feature of the game kind of got in the way of my enjoyment.
While the game feels great, the inventory and menu system in the game hasn’t been improved. It’s understandable since this is only a remaster. But, it actually reminds us how old this game is and it affects the experience of the game.
The inventory is basically a list-menu that’s a bit difficult to manage. When you have a lot of items in the inventory, you have to keep pushing the up and down buttons to find what you’re looking for. And you can get easily lost. This is especially more annoying when playing on the PS4.
But, I decided not to let it bother me and kept exploring the game.
The quests in Kingdoms Of Amalur are really entertaining. Especially the side-quests are really fun to do. This helped me get distracted from the inventory dilemma and the outdated graphics.
Yes, sadly even after the remake, the graphics feel a bit old. This is very noticeable when you’re up close with NPCs.
Thankfully, the colorful art style and the vibrant environments more than make up for the outdated graphics and it actually didn’t bother me at all.
The movement system is the only thing that kept bugging me. On PS4, the camera moves on its own when your character is running or turning. This can be quite annoying when you’re moving through a dungeon with twists and turns. My character kept going out of the screen all the time.
Other than that, Kingdoms Of Amalur is a solid game. It has a huge map that I only got to explore half of, even after hours of gameplay. I could easily sink over 100 hours into this game and have so much fun along the way.
It goes without saying that I didn’t get around to finishing the game yet. But, I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys single-player RPGs with fun quests and lots of loot to grind for. That is if you don’t mind the slightly outdated graphics and the colorful art-style of the game.